Reckoning the leaves of change

Today I walked around campus as it was snowing leaves of change. Yellow and orange flutters signaling a shift in season, so poignant on the eve of the most contentious election of my lifetime.

Strolling under great canopies of color, I tried to concentrate on the Fall splendor and quell my anxiety about the next 28 to 70,000 hours.

During the last couple weeks, my students and I have been discussing gender and racial equity, and the problems of discrimination and hate as they relate to organizations and life. As difficult as these conversations are, I try to leave students with hope and communication strategies for making good change in the world.

I’m nervous that tomorrow those discussions and intentions will be undermined by ugliness.

But I’ll have some faith in the words shared in class today by Bryan Stevenson in his wonderful TED Talk “We Need to Talk About an Injustice” (watch this ASAP!). Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., Stevenson closes his talk: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”

I hope so.

xoxo,
shawna

National Blog Posting Month 2016
– November 1: Talking feminism and controlling my face. Kinda.
– November 2: My patronus is a class of budding feminists
– November 3: The Cubs won! And other things on my mind.
– November 4: Magical thinking never works. Also: I hate cancer.
– November 5: Emotional states of a last-minute conference submission.
– November 6: Happy links, in case you need a break from politics